Summer reissue: It’s the third most streamed game in the world, but what the hell is it? Sam Brooks dives into the world and the many, many memes of Among Us. First published November 9, 2020. So what the hell is Among Us? The party game Mafia, but with aliens, basically. Among Us is a … Read more
The ex-military, gay, Lamborghini-driving CEO of Rocketwerkz is one of the highest profile figures in New Zealand gaming. Michael Andrew went to the new Auckland office to meet the man known as “rocket”. “It’s the fastest lift in the country,” said Rocketwerkz’s chief operating officer Stephen Knightly before we shot to the top of the … Read more
It’s the new national pastime and New Zealand’s fastest-growing tech industry. Jonathan Cotton finds out how New Zealand is staying connected to this billion-dollar global opportunity. Gus, my 11-year-old son, will talk to you about gaming. He’ll talk to himself about gaming. Under the right circumstances, he’ll talk to a potted plant about gaming. And … Read more
It’s the third most streamed game in the world, but what the hell is it? Sam Brooks dives into the world and the many, many memes of Among Us. So what the hell is Among Us? The party game Mafia, but with aliens, basically. Among Us is a multiplayer game for four to 10 players, … Read more
The new generation of gaming is almost upon us and Microsoft is first out of the gate with the release of the of Xbox Series X on Tuesday. It’s big, it’s powerful, it’s packed with impressive new features – but is it worth shelling out $800 for? Lee Henaghan took it for a test drive. … Read more
Did you pull off a kickflip this past weekend like it was nothing? You shouldn’t be surprised, because games and memory are linked much closer than you think. If you’re a millennial who had access to a gaming console in the late 90s, chances are you played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. And chances are you … Read more
While musically and visually on point, much-anticipated indie game No Straight Roads is all sensory overload and little substance. I’ll give No Straight Roads one thing: I’ve never played a game where the title screen music was so good that even when I quit the game, frustrated, it lured me back in. No Straight Roads, … Read more
The use of zombies in video games is getting the world’s most inventive artform stuck in the mud, ready to have its brains eaten out, Sam Brooks writes. The Last of Us. Resident Evil 7. Days Gone. State of Decay. Metal Gear Survive. Dying Light. The Evil Within. 7 Days to Die. The Last of … Read more
It’s one of the most influential games of all time, but where does its legacy sit now? Sam Brooks on what many call the best game ever, Deus Ex. The opening level of Ion Storm’s Deus Ex doesn’t look especially appealing to the modern-day gamer. The colours are so muted it’s like you turned the … Read more
A new first-person photography game set in a dystopian Tauranga under lockdown is the best work of Māori science-fiction this decade, writes Dan Taipua. Umurangi Generation is a first-person photography game set din the shitty future. Designed and developed by Naphtali Faulkner (aka Veselekov) the game has you move about a futuristic Tauranga and surrounding … Read more
Dragon Quest: Your Story feels like an hour-and-a-half-long highlight reel of an adventure spanning dozens of hours, but it’s damn fun, writes Felix Walton. One of Netflix’s current hustles seems to be grabbing movies with little to no hope of a wide release and publishing them as “Netflix Originals.” The latest of these is Dragon … Read more
On its 20th anniversary, Sam Brooks looks back on The Sims, the safest space for an entire generation of gamers. Over the past two decades, The Sims has turned from a quirky life simulation experiment into one of those games that even non-gamers know about, and might even play from time to time. It’s a … Read more
Summer reissue: A few years ago, deep into middle age, Britta Stabenow found solace in the world of gaming. Now she’s part of a passionate community: those who love, and collect, video games. This post was originally published on 27 June, 2019. I’ll always be a video game collector, that will never change. But the … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Gris, the stunning game from Devolver Digital that gamifies and makes beautiful that one universal process: grief. A girl lies on a massive stone hand. Her world is full of colour – radiant reds, bruised blues, yearning yellows. She opens her mouth and sings in a high fluttery soprano, and seem to float … Read more
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. Here, he reviews a book by a kindred spirit: Lost in A Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do For Us, by psychologist Pete Etchells. The person who got me into video games … Read more
Māori culture shouldn’t be something that’s half-heartedly appropriated for some cool video game visuals. So why do developers keep doing it? This year’s Xbox E3 Briefing kicked off with a new game reveal, Bleeding Edge – a multiplayer action game in which players fight in 4v4 battles – and some exciting news for New Zealand players: … Read more
Lucy Zee recounts the worst job she ever had: working as a sales assistant in video game retail. Every so often, a conversation topic will come up: “What is the worst job you’ve ever had?”. I couldn’t name one, I could name six. When I worked clearing tables in a Chinese restaurant? Or when I … Read more
A few years ago, deep into middle age, Britta Stabenow found solace in the world of gaming. Now she’s part of a passionate community: those who love, and collect, video games. I’ll always be a video game collector, that will never change. But the collecting community reached a really low point this year with the … Read more
E3 is the biggest week of gaming news of the year – which means it’s easy to lose track of everything that’s been announced. Sam Brooks rounds up them all up in one convenient place for you. Not only is E3 the biggest gaming convention in the world, it’s the biggest hype-machine and you can … Read more
Cocktails and video games – just like peanut butter and jelly, right? Sam Brooks interviews Jack Stone-Slater, the man behind the locally-made webseries Experience Bar which combines the dual pleasures of gaming and cocktails. Gaming and cocktails are two things that probably shouldn’t go together. Other than both needing a semblance of precision and timing, there’s not … Read more
As it stands only ten games are currently banned from sale in New Zealand but should we be looking at how we censor games with more scrutiny? Oskar Howell writes. Content warning: Depictions of violence are alluded to in the piece. One of the first games I seriously played was Grand Theft Auto III. It was one of … Read more
Crackdown 3 is one of the most notoriously delayed games of all time, but it’s finally out next week. Lee Henaghan caught up with the game’s top creative talent to find out if it’s going to be worth the wait. With the possible exception of Hollywood, there is no industry more obsessed and fixated on … Read more
The Rainbow Arcade is an exhibition of LGBTQI* representation is video games currently taking place at the Schwules Museum in Berlin. New Zealander in Berlin Joel Thomas went along. There’s a perpetual greyness to the Berlin winter; everything’s desaturated and everyone’s a bit on edge. I’m walking through the rain in Berlin’s famously queer district … Read more
People have flocked to the Just Cause series drawn by its OTT action mayhem. But how long can mindless fun keep people engaged? The new instalment answers that question, says José Barbosa – and it’s not good. The last spurt of 2018 saw the market slammed with a phalanx of voluminous open world games: Red Dead … Read more
In a new ecology-focused Civ VI expansion, Kupe leads the Māori in an attempt to dominate the globe through kaitiakitanga. The Māori have been announced as a playable race for Civilization VI, and boy are they bringing the mana. Led by Kupe, who discovered New Zealand while out chasing an octopus, the Māori are a seafaring … Read more
You have to buy a gift for someone, and the one thing you know is that they’re into video games. But what the hell are you meant to buy them without looking like a fool? Sam Brooks has you covered with the gaming gift guide for non-gamers. Christmas is hard if you’ve got people to … Read more
The Spinoff’s gaming journalist morbid_angel_69 returns with an in depth investigation into a true red dead mystery! What is that guy doing in the Valentine hotel behind closed doors?
Kids will spend hours playing video games anyway so you may as well hook them into an online adventure that teaches them something, an Attitude Awards nominee says. Tim Young says technology makes him “superhuman”. The founder of social enterprise Education These Days walks the talk when it comes to using tech to improve people’s … Read more
People are loving Red Dead Redemption 2 and its ultra realistic depiction of the wild west. Nothing says western more than shooting people’s hats off, so we’ve decided to attempt a hat shooting challenge. Our video journalist @morbid_slag_angel_69 takes up the revolver!